Alanis Morissette, Charlotte Cardin honoured at Billboard Canada's Women in Music awards
Jully Black, Jessie Reyez and more were also recognized at the inaugural event
Billboard Canada's Women in Music awards celebrated its first edition on Sept. 7 in Toronto, where stars including Alanis Morissette, Charlotte Cardin and Jessie Reyez were recognized for their craft and impact. In total, 11 artists and music industry executives received awards, including Jully Black and Lu Kala.
From heartfelt speeches to emotional performances, here are the most memorable moments from the night.
Jully Black received the impact award
The Juno-winning singer received the impact award for using her platform to uplift Black and Indigenous voices. Before taking the stage to perform a touching cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," she took a moment to call out inequality in the industry: "Women are paid less. If you don't have a seat at the table, build your own," she said.
Later, in her acceptance speech, she listed the women who had positively impacted her life before praising herself: "This is my renaissance at 46 years old," she said. "It gets greater, later."
Jessie Reyez thanked her parents for making her fearless
Reyez took home the trailblazer award for calling out injustice in the music industry, and shouted out her parents for their bravery. "To be honest, a lot of the fearlessness that I'm lucky to have, I got from having a front row seat from watching my parents, who came from Colombia to build a life here and trailblazed themselves," she said in her acceptance speech.
Reyez previously received the Billboard Women in Music impact award in 2020 for speaking out about sexism, racism and more.
Charlotte Cardin named woman of the year
Cardin, Billboard Canada's woman of the year, thanked her team as well as her mother and sister in her uplifting speech. "You are the first ones to ever hear my new demos," she said.
The Juno-winning singer also acknowledged her women fans for their support: "I look at the numbers a little bit, and 75 per cent of my audience is female and I am so grateful for you all," she said.
Later in the evening, she performed her soaring ballad "Next to You" from her Polaris-shortlisted album, 99 Nights.
Alanis Morissette reflected on reaching icon status
Cardin presented Morissette with the icon award and shared that Morissette was one of her inspirations: "I want to say that artists like Alanis Morisette here tonight are not just performers and incredible songwriters, and musicians, and entertainers, they are true champions of self-esteem and self-acceptance for entire generations."
Morissette then explained what being an icon meant to her: "The definition of icon is a representative symbol that is worthy of veneration of great respect and reverence, so that's cool!" she said. "To the degree that I can dictate and impose what I would love to offer as a symbol, is that I would want to be a symbol of safety to explore as a human being internally, in relationships with life, with oneness," she continued.
The full list of Billboard Canada's Women in Music 2024 honourees is below:
Icon award
Alanis Morissette
Woman of the year
Charlotte Cardin
Trailblazer award
Jessie Reyez
Rising star award
Lu Kala
Impact award
Jully Black
Group of the year
The Beaches
Breakthrough artist of the year
Allison Russell
Executive of the year
Kristen Burke, president of Warner Music Canada
Manager of the year
Laurie Lee Boutet, artist manager at Wednesday Management; and Laurie Chouinard, artist manager and business affairs at Cult Nation
Global manager of the year
Sonali Singh, CEO of Ripple Effect Studios